Many of our generations are living in a capitalistic society that is extremely convenient and demands constant growth. However, against the backdrop of excessive economic growth and convenience, the global environment is being destroyed and we are facing a climate crisis. I am a master's student in the Cultural and Creative Industries, and I am convinced that the culture of each ethnic group's ancestors and the wisdom of their lives contain various lessons for living in harmony with nature and animals.
Therefore, my 'Take One Step' is to create a platform for people from diverse cultural backgrounds to share earth-friendly services, products, and ideas using their own culture and knowledge. “Project of MOTTAINAI” is the name given to this project. The word "MOTTAINAI" is a Japanese word used to describe something that is being thrown away unnecessarily or to express regret about it. In this project, for example, as a Japanese person, I would like to share the idea of "Kintsugi", which means that when a piece of pottery is chipped, you can use gold to connect the chipped part and use it for many years, or you can use unnecessary clothes (kimonos) as rags for cleaning. Other examples include the way indigenous Australians deal with nature, which was introduced in the best-selling book "Sand Talk" as a lesson on the climate crisis, and I feel that such wisdom would be a “MOTTAINAI” if it is not utilized. I also learned that in Australia, people can live comfortably in double-brick houses without using much air conditioning or heating. The purpose of this project is to spread the wisdom and culture of our ancestors, which have gradually fallen into disuse in our convenient modern society, to society once again, feeling that it is a waste that they are not being passed on. At Monash University, where people from diverse cultural backgrounds gather from around the world, there will be a wealth of knowledge that can be shared. I believe that the creativity to learn this knowledge and devise ways of living in our daily lives, as well as the knowledge to change our products to be more earth-friendly, will be extremely valuable.